Fresno State Talks is a student-selected lecture series featuring outstanding faculty
who exemplify the University's values of Discovery, Diversity, and Distinction. The
honored faculty members deliver a lecture on a topic of expertise, interest, or experience.

Nominations are solicited from students by asking 'What professor inspires you?". Students
are encouraged to recognize a professor that has made a difference, challenged them
to think differently, or taken the time to ensure learning,

The 2015 Fresno State Talks are now available online. Click on the lecture title to view.

The entirety of human knowledge is based on our brain’s ability to think and remember
in narrative structure. After nourishment and love, it seems as though a need to tell
and hear stories is essential in any culture. We learn, understand, and recall knowledge
in story form and this talk explores our most basic means for sharing and interpreting
life’s experiences and discoveries.

Marching along the higher education landscape in the United States has afforded each
of us opportunities to earn multiple college degrees while involving our parents and
families in the process. In this talk we will dialogue with the audience to share
our stories—individually and collectively. Given Fresno State’s designation as a Hispanic
Serving Institution, audience members will have an opportunity to learn about our
personal journeys, how perceived deficits have in fact served as assets, and a call
to action to continue advancing student success.

2015 marks the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in which approximately 1.5 million
Armenians were killed and countless others sent into exile by the Young Turk regime
of the Ottoman Empire. This talk will explore how the Armenian Genocide represents
a pivotal moment in the making of modernity, and thus constitutes an essential part
of who we are as a world civilizationtoday. It will also foreground the challenges the Armenian Genocide, along with other
genocides, pose to our post-modern perspective which often views conflict as a series
of competing narratives.